2026 has given us plenty of white-knuckle gaming moments, but Polygon says none of them beat trying to land a helicopter in Wardogs without turning your whole squad into scrap.
Turns out there's a reason it feels so unforgiving. Bulkhead senior producer Kane Allard told Polygon at Gamescom 2026 that the studio brought in an actual aeronautical engineer to design the helicopters' base handling, aiming for weight and realism instead of the usual arcade-y hover-and-go.
"It gives them that skill level where you can learn and become a better pilot," Allard said. Getting airborne apparently isn't the hard part, it's the landing, especially with passengers trying to hop out in one piece.
And the stakes aren't just pride. Crash a chopper you paid roughly $6,250 for, with a full team aboard, and you're looking at tens of thousands in lost gear if nobody's around to revive everyone. Mess that up twice and you'll be flying commercial: strapped in the back seat while someone else takes the stick.
